A Cottage by the Sea

Documents for travel to Italy in Covid times

9/22/2021

I’m getting my documents and other paperwork ready for next Monday’s flight to Italy. There are the pre-covid ones—passport and alerting my credit card banks that I will be away—so they don’t think my cards have been stolen and put a stop on them.
Then there are the new ones for the covid era we now live it. 1) The essential one is the card given to me when I received the two jabs of my Covid vaccine, which in Europe is referred to as the Green Card. 2) EU-PFL Document, required for air travel to Europe. It gives my flight information, including seat numbers! 3) A Covid test 72 hours before my arrival at my final destination. I’ve scheduled my test for 3:50PM Saturday afternoon at CVS; should get the results on my phone in 48 hours.
If you are traveling to Europe soon, check out these requirement. Keep current; regulations are changing all the time.
Now for the non-document preparations. Packing and sorting out the right computer plugs.

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Off to Italy--9/21

9/18/2021

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I haven’t been blogging much lately because I’ve been sitting quietly with plans to go to Italy. To go, or not to go, that was the question. I made the reservations in July for the simple reason is that if I didn’t make them, the trip would never happen. Duh! I know it is meant to be. Here’s why. ( Italy 9/27-10/11)
   In filling out a Passenger Locator Form for travel to Europe, I discovered that my Alitalia flights (partnered with Delta) had been cancelled, and that I hadn’t been notified. The only reason I found this out is because the form asked for the seat numbers of my flight: so I checked my reservation … no flight.
It took 25 minutes to reach a live Delta representative on the phone and then an hour with a very patient the representative to sort it all out. I settled on the best alternative to the original direct Boston-Rome flight that had been cancelled. UGH, now a layover. Much to decide, with no more than a minute to process. Should I fly to Atlanta to avoid a layover in Europe? No! Is an hour and a half layover at JFK from Boston enough time to board an international flight? No! Is a six and a half hour layover at JFK too long? Yes.
   I finally decided on Paris, where at least I can buy a croissant with really butter. I fly at 5:15 PM instead of 9:45PM, and will get to Rome at 11:25AM, about the same time as my original non-stop flight— time enough to take a train to Florence supper at the Piazza della Signoria.
   With all of this change of plans, the trip is still meant to be. A plus to all of this is the awesome view flying over the Alps. I have a window seat.

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Another beginning-of-the-school-year time

9/12/2021

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View of my church through the trees taken from my window.

Another beginning-of-the-school-year time on my calendar and in my being. It will always be that way, with new memories added to the old (I can still remember standing at the bus stop in that blue dress).
Since I retired, I have had to add 9/11 to my thinking. Yesterday we prayed through another anniversary, remembering and hoping once again that terror and fear will leave everyone so that peace and love will take over.
Today, after streaming services for a year and a half, my church opens in person. Many have dedicated themselves to making sure it is safe for everyone. I would venture to say that all the adults in the congregation are vaccinated, but what about the children? Coffee hour will be outside, and so we are grateful for a beautiful September day. But what about coffee hour as the days become colder?
We have learned to live one day at a time, which is not a bad lesson. One day, yes, but what about one minute, one second, one NOW at a time. I’m working on it.

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Honoring our vaccinated friends

9/7/2021

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Here are some thoughts about Covid opinions. I’m leaving out the ‘to be or not to be vaccinated’ question. The given here is: yes, get vaccinated!
For the vaccinated, there are myriad, on-going decisions that are being made. When and where to wear a mask! Do I go to the grocery store. Do I eat in a restaurant? Do I hug? Do I fly in an airplane? Do I travel out of the U.S.? What about a booster? How much time do I want to spend delving into the medical options?
My friends and I are all over the place on this. Some of us shop, others order on line; some hug, others hold up an elbow; some fly, others stay home. What is satisfying and comforting is we aren’t telling each other what to do. We accept the choices made; we known that each person has considered the risks and taken into account their own safety and that of others. There is no perfect answer. We wish each other well. It is a deep honoring of friendship.

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Getting rid of schadenfreude

9/3/2021

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Schadenfreude. You know what that is, even if you don’t know!. You know because you carry it out. You do so because you are human.

Schadenfreude: enjoyment obtained from the troubles of others. That’s the quick Meriam-Webster definition on the internet.

You can make an in-depth study of schadenfreude, but with just a little self-awareness you can observe it in yourself. For my purposes, it appears in full view when I watch the news. My righteous indignation is one thing; I don’t like the lies. Fine. Okay. But…, and a big but, is when I enjoy those I don’t agree with getting into trouble with the law and being shamed in public. As my delight moves beyond the satisfaction that a right has been made wrong to a delight in the suffering of the ‘perpetrator’, I know my schadenfreude is with me.
I don’t like that glee, and it is mighty difficult to turn off. Right now, one solution is to turn off the news. And so, once again, I am trying that.

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Be your own person

8/31/2021

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There is power in solitude—not just physically and in terms of aloneness and silence—but in solitude of being one’s own person… Beverly Lanzetta
I came across this quote in the August 2021 newsletter of Raven’s Bread—in its mention of Lanzetta new book, The Monk Within: Embracing a Sacred Way of Life.

Hmm, being one’s own person! We like to think we are. Anyone of us ‘obsessed’ with solitude, can take some ownership in that. We introverts (actually I am right on the fulcrum of the introvert/extrovert continuum) must have a sense of being our own person, or else we’d be finding all kinds of excuses to spend more time with others. We don’t only wish we had the nerve to do things differently, we do them.
For example, I don’t just love the idea of travel alone, I do it. At the moment I am working on plans to go to Italy. I am vaccinated and I can wear a mask in Florence as easily as I can in Massachusetts. In myriad ways, Covid is calling us to be our own person. The challenge is not to infringe on another’s right to be their own person.

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Presence

8/29/2021

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I’ve been thinking about presence, to be present. Eckhart Tolle writes about being in the moment. He writes about sitting on a bench day after day, week after week, just being present to was before him. I’ve tried that for a few minutes only to realize that my mind was off all over the place, all over the world. I was physically sitting but that was the extent of it. Emotionally, mentally, and spiritually I was somewhere else.
Presence, a noun, brings me into being;. To be present, a verb, pushes me toward doing. Although I am very good at doing, I feel drawn to being. When I sit outside in the presence of nature, I don’t have to do anything. I just have be (and I don’t even need to be anything).

What I’ve written may not make much sense. That’s okay. Be in the presence. That’s all.

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Everyone praying!

8/27/2021

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Oh, those fires. A friend from California writes that she see the smoke and breathes it in all the time. “The experts are predicting this fire will last until Oct or Nov once we get some rain and cooler weather. Pretty scary for sure.”
I am aware that the worries in the world are testing me second hand, in a less visceral way than for many, including my California friend. Climate change, Afghanistan, the big lie, Covid, gun violence…. We have our individual lives to concentrate on, and then there are these bigger pictures that take over .
As I sit in the comfort of my home, I don’t feel smug; I feel grateful for the moment. My life can change in a moment; maybe not in a devastating way, but it will change. What can I do? For a start, be prepared.
And, I can pray. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you are aware that I keep my personal faith out of my posts. But prayer isn’t only a God idea, it is also a human idea, a human need. When we want something good to happen, we are praying. When we are grateful for something that has happened, we are praying. When we sit in the silence, either in our homes or out in nature, we are praying.
So, with that definition of prayer, I ask you, “What if everyone in the world prayed?”

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Solitude in the rain

8/19/2021

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I’ve had some company for the past three days; a friend came to the Boston area for cataract surgery. It was a wonderful visit, reminding me once again of the value and richness of long-time friendships.
Having experienced an interlude in my deeply established rhythm of solitude, I return to the stillness with gratitude for friends. I’m reminded that those of us who long to be alone, are not hermits, nor do we want to be.
This rainy day adds to my deep contentment.

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A Vermont get-away

8/13/2021

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We went to Vermont for two nights last weekend. A time with family at a family cottage on Lake Dunmore, south of Middlebury. We’ve been there hundreds of times and for many decades.
There’s something powerful and comforting about going back to the same place for vacation. We know what to bring and how the day will go.
This time a new satisfaction was added. We hadn’t been away since Christmas of 2019. Two nights were enough for us to feel renewed and energized before returning home to life just as it had been for over a year and a half. With the surge in Covid cases, once again we will put on our masks when we go to the library.
And yet, those two mornings sipping coffee by the lake gave us hope that this too shall pass, that yes, we can hang in there a little longer. Of course, it will happened more quickly as more people get vaccinated and don a mask.

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Documents for travel to Italy in Covid times

Off to Italy--9/21

Another beginning-of-the-school-year time

Honoring our vaccinated friends

Getting rid of schadenfreude

Be your own person

Presence

Everyone praying!

Solitude in the rain

A Vermont get-away

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